To be a Ranch 'bot
by AnAshBlackSword
Summary: This is a story about Jazz's life on the Lennox ranch, and his adventures raising two human children, Annabelle and Ashley Lennox. Containing wheeljack's explosions, mayhem, children and lots of humor. ITS SO FLUFFY YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY DIE! (If you want to know how Jazz was resurrected and how he lives on the ranch etc please read the prequel, 'New Beginnings."
1. Breakfast Mayhem!

**A/N: This story is about Jazz and how he learns to raise the Lennox children. If you want to know how Jazz is alive and why he and Wheeljack live on the Lennox's ranch, please read 'New beginnings' which is the prequel to this story. I'll update the next chapter as soon as I can! Thank you for reading and please review! –AnAshBlackSword 3**

Jazz onlined to the bright sunlight streaming through the cracks in the barn walls of the Lennox's Ranch. The small silver mech promptly checked his chronometer. It was 7:00pm, roughly around half an hour before Ashley and Annabelle, or Ash and Annie as he called them, woke up. He had been living at the Lennox ranch for around four years now, Annie was 8 and Ash was 4. He glanced over to where Wheeljack was still recharging and, attempting to make as little noise as possible, transformed into bipedal mode.

Opening the barn doors as quietly as possible so as not to awaken Wheeljack, he made his way over to the farmhouse. From his scans, he could see that Sarah Lennox was already awake and cooking and Ash and Annie were still deep in recharge. Sarah saw him approaching and she left the kitchen. He transformed back into bipedal mode, and switched his holoform on. Seconds later Sarah opened the door and he was greeted by a beaming smile.

"Good morning Jazz."

"Mornin' Sarah, did ya recharge well?" Sarah had long gotten used to Jazz using cybertronian terms around him, just as Jazz had gotten used to her using human terms.

"Yes I did, do you want to come in for breakfast?" Although Jazz couldn't actually eat breakfast or any other human food, he was more than happy to sit at the table with the family for mealtimes.

"Of course ah would," he said, smiling at Sarah. He followed her through to the kitchen, where he sat down at the table. Jazz and Wheeljack were now part of the Lennox family in Sarah's eyes. She had told friends and other extended relatives that she had adopted Jazz from a children's home and Wheeljack was her 'lodger'. The girls looked up to both bots as older brothers and as both children were home-schooled, there was little danger of them blurting out the fact that they lived with giant robots. Jazz turned his head up towards the ceiling as he heard the first step of footsteps jump out of bed.

"And so the earthquake begins." Sarah chuckled.

"Ah still don't understand how ah sparklin' manages to be louder than Megatron when he walks."

"One of the many fascinating mysteries of children Jazz."

"Ashley! Ashley! It's time for breakfast now!" Annie's voice came from upstairs. "C'mon Ashley!" The eight year old really did not like being late for breakfast. Sarah and Jazz heard Ashley's rather sleepy, annoyed sounding, "Don't wanna!"

"She sounds Sunstreaker afta being woken up for an early morning mission." Sarah, having been told all about how whiny Sunstreaker and Sideswipe could be by Jazz and Wheeljack, laughed with Jazz.

"Would you mind getting them downstairs? I've got to finish this." She gestured to the fried eggs, sausage and bacon that she was cooking.

"Nah, I'll get 'em down before ya know it." He ran up the stairs into Ashley's room where a rather annoyed Annie was shaking her sister.

"It's time to get up Ashley! I want breakfast!" Annie moaned at her sister. Then she saw Jazz. "Jazz, help me get her up! I wanna eat already!"

"Alrigh', you go get dressed and ah'll get sleepy here out of bed."

"Okay." And with that, the girl ran off to find her favourite clothes. Jazz went over to the sleeping sparkling.

"C'mon Ash-bash, it's time to get up now."

"Go 'way Jass." The four year old told him and turned away from him. "I wanna sleep." Unable to say her 'Z's yet, Ashley had taken to calling him 'Jass.' Jazz didn't might at all, it was fragging adorable.

"Do I have to tickle you?" He asked in a mock threatening tone. When he didn't receive an answer, he promptly started to tickle her.

"Bad Jass! That's… no…..fair!" she gasped out while laughing. Squirming, she tried to get away from him, and failed. "Jass!"

"If I stop, will ya get up?"

"Y….Yes!"

"Alrigh' then." And with that, he let go of her. She sat up and sent him a glare, which was very cute and not at all threatening.

"Bad Jass!" She told him. "Go 'way!" Jazz almost laughed at her, but stopped himself just in time. Making her more annoyed might result in a temper tantrum, and sparkling temper tantrums were never a good thing, whether said sparkling was human or cybertronian. Instead he pulled a sad 'puppy dog' face.

"Awwwww, but what if ah wanna talk to mah favourite sparklin'."

"That's naughty Jass. Momma says you can't have favourites between me and Annie."

"Well don't tell ya Momma then." He replied. She beamed at him then launched herself at his arms. He caught the excited girl just in time.

"Piggy back!" she demanded.

"Afta' ya get dressed." She looked sad for a moment, then:

"Pinky promise?" Jazz extended his little finger to her.

"Pinky promise."

"Yay!" Jazz left the room, knowing she liked to get dressed on her own at this age. (No help Jass! I'm big like Annie.) He knocked on Annie's door.

"Are ya done yet Bell?" Unlike the rest of the family, Jazz's nickname for Annabelle was bell. It was well known that Jazz had a nickname for almost everyone, and that if he heard of any hated nickname (Sunny, Prowler, etc) he would use it until he joined Primus in the well of sparks. Annie opened her door.

"Yep, I wanna have breakfast already! Is Ashley done yet?!"

"Not yet sweetspark."

"Awww. Do I get cuddles?" Despite insisting to everyone that she was a 'big girl', Annie still liked to be picked up and carried by everyone and anyone. This was slightly problematic for Sarah, Will and the other humans, seeing as she was quite tall for an eight year old, but as Jazz and Wheeljack were giant robots, it was no trouble at all.

"Of course ya can sweetspark!" She jumped up on him immediately. A distressed wail then came from Ashley's bedroom.

"Jass!" Jazz went into the room, where Ashley was dressed, except for she had her arm through the head hole of her jumper, and was obviously a bit stuck. "Jass, help!" Annie giggled at her younger sister's plight.

"You're stuck! You're a little baby, unlike me. I'm a big girl!"

"Not stuck and not baby!" Ashley insisted.

"Yes you are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"Not!"

"Alrigh', Primus, you're both big girls." Jazz interrupted before it became a full scale argument. Ashley sent another 'evil' look at her older sister and Jazz put Annie down.

"C'mere sparklin'." He said, and put the jumper on the right way.

"Yay! Thanks Jass! I wanna piggy back now!"

"But I want a carry!" Annie insisted.

"Ah can carry ya both!" He replied, and with that, Jazz picked up Ashley and put her on his back, then proceeded to pick up Annie in his arms. He then took them both downstairs to where breakfast, Sarah and Wheeljack were waiting. Wheeljack must have arrived while he was sorting out Ash and Annie. Wheeljack chuckled to himself when he saw Jazz.

"Wha'?" Jazz asked.

"Everytime I see you, you appear to have sparklings clinging to you."

"Haha, that's hilarious Jack." Annie jumped out of his arms when she saw the food on the table.

"Breakfast!" Everyone laughed at her enthusiasm, and sat down at the table. While they were eating, Sarah turned to Jazz and Wheeljack.

"Would either of you mind taking me and the girls shopping later? I need to get some food and Annie needs some new pens."

"Ah wouldn't mind at all." Jazz replied.

"In that case Jazz, I'll stay here, I'm working on a little something anyway." Jazz shook his head at the other mech. Whenever Wheeljack said 'a little something,' it meant 'a little something that is highly likely to make a big explosion.'

"Big bangs from Jackie?!" Ash exclaimed excitedly which caused everyone to laugh at the look on Wheeljack's face.

"Not everything I make explodes." Jackie said, looking very put out.

"Nah, just 99% of it." Jazz replied, which caused everyone to laugh even more.


	2. A devious plan

Jazz shifted slightly in discomfort as Sarah Lennox strapped the booster seat inside him. Annie was tall enough to no longer need one, but unfortunately Ash did. The fragging thing annoyed him no end, but he wouldn't complain about it. He had faced far worse thing that an itchy seat in his interior.

"Would you like to drive or shall I?" Jazz asked Sarah. Sarah Lennox was the only human Jazz had allowed to actually be in control of driving his alt mode. Every other human had to sit in the passenger seat and allow Jazz to drive. It was one of the ways Jazz showed the amount of trust he had for Sarah.

"You can drive, I've got something to tell you all and it will distract me from the road."

"Safety comes first Mommy!" Annie piped up from the back seat.

"That's right sweetie." Sarah sent Annie an approving smile. Jazz buckled them all in and began driving to the town, which was about 45 minutes away. The Ranch truly was isolated.

"So wha' was it ya wanted to tell us?" Jazz asked curiously. He suspected he already knew, but went ahead and asked anyway.

"Daddy's coming home tomorrow." Tomorrow? By primus, that was short notice, but that was the way it was.

"Dadda!"

"Daddy! Is Uncle Hide coming?" Annie asked excitedly.

"Yeah honey, and Ratchet and Prowl." The last part was said more to Jazz than to the children. Jazz relaxed, it would be good to see his brother again. It had been far too long in his opinion and he guessed Ratchet wanted to do a check-up. "Ratchet's a doctor and Prowl is like Daddy. Ratchet is going to be looking at Jazz and Wheeljack." Again, she was saying the last part more for Jazz's benefit.

"Aw, slag."

"Language." She reprimanded and promptly tapped the arm of his holoform. "And besides, he more concerned about Jack blowing himself to smithereens than you."

"Jass sick?!" Jazz exchanged a look with Sarah. They hadn't told either of the children about Jazz's offlining. It really wasn't suitable for a sparkling, it might give then nightmares and besides, Jazz wanted to keep the Lennox's out of the war as much as possible.

"No Ash-bash, Jass-man is fine, ol' Hatchet is just a Mother-Hen." Ash giggled at her nickname and Annie at Ratchet's nickname. "Just don' tell Hatchet I told ya his nickname, he might slag, um I mean offline me." He said, seeing Sarah's warning glance. Sarah had painted Wheeljack pink in recharge for swearing in front of the sparklings and Jazz was not eager to have the same experience.

"We promise Jazz!"

"Yeah, promise Jass!"

"Alrigh' and I don't think Ash-Bash has met Prowler really. The last time he saw ya, ya were a two year old sparkling. Prowler's my brother." He explained to the sparklings.

"You must have missed him." Sarah remarked.

"Yeah, ah have."

"So if Jazz is our brother, then is Prowl our brother too Mommy?" Annie asked from the backseat. Jazz would never tell them, but he was delighted that both girls called him their older brother, and when Sarah introduced him as her son. It made him feel a sense of belonging despite the fact that they were from different species.

"I don't know honey, maybe Jazz can answer that question?"

"Prowl will be delighted to have sisters." Jazz said firmly. _And if he's not, ah'll make him put on a slaggin' good act or I'll get hide to slag him to pit an' back. _Jazz would forbid Primus himself from hurting the sparklings.

"Yay!" both girls explained.

"Momma, can I have new paints?" Ashley asked suddenly.

"Me too Mommy! My pink paint ran out when I was painting a picture for Jackie, and I want to paint a picture for daddy of me and him, but I _have _to be wearing pink Mommy."

"Of course! You can both have new paints and I'll get some paper too in that case."

A devious thought suddenly crossed Jazz's mind. When Jazz had been on base, he had enjoyed pranking Ratchet, his brother and Ironhide to no end. All three were going to be here and it had been far too long since he had pulled a good prank on someone other than Wheeljack.

"Say, can ah have some pink paint too?" The look Sarah sent him nearly made him burst out laughing.

"And what were you planning to use pink paint for? Pink wouldn't look very good on you, and please, for the sake of my sanity do not use the barn walls as a canvas again." Jazz laughed as he remembered doing that with Wheeljack and Annie when Ashley was younger. The result had been a very decorative exterior of the barn that Sarah had insisted they fix, or else. Jazz had sometimes wondered what the or else would be, but decided he didn't particularly want to know after seeing Sarah's glare.

"Well, ah might need ah little help, but it's been ahwhile since ah pranked a bot other than poor Jackie (he had stopped a while ago for fear the mech might lose his processor) and back when ah lived on base, I mainly used to prank Prowler, Hatchet an' Hide. I was thinkin' that maybe the girls here would like to give 'em some custom design via finger painting." A chorus of 'please Momma, please!' erupted from the girls.

"Hmmm…." Sarah said. "Well, as long as I would be allowed to participate in said prank. I haven't done one either in a long time."

"Of course ya can! The more the merrier!" He thought about it a bit more. "We'll have to get Jackie an' Will in on as well, so there's no danger of 'em telling Hide, Prowler an' Hatchet." Sarah nodded, agreeing with him. She looked utterly devious, and Jazz once again reminded himself that indeed "Pit hath no fury like a femme scorned", or in Sarah's case, woman. Still, he would not like to be on her bad side. He had seen Sarah on the rampage, and let's just say he would rather face the Unmaker himself.

"I want to paint princess on Hide Mommy!"

"I wanna paint patterns Momma!" Sarah rubbed her hands together.

"I wouldn't mind painting some princesses on them either." She said. Oh Primus, this was going to be brilliant!


	3. Ballerinas and Ice-cream Trucks

**: Text : is used for bonds (brother bond in this chapter.)**

**|| Text || is used for the bot's commlink. **

The next night, after Prowl, Ratchet and Ironhide had arrived and were deep in recharge in the barn, Jazz and Wheeljack crept out of the barn to the farmhouse where Sarah, Will and the girls were waiting with the supplies they had got when shopping yesterday. Jazz grinned evilly as he remembered picking the brightest pinks, oranges, yellows, baby-blues and best of all? The shop had metallic colours in stock, which was basically glitter paint. Although Jazz might get his head ripped off by his brother tomorrow or a wrench to the head or a cannon to the aft, this was well worth the image he'd be able to get.

"Did ya manage to drug the energon Jackie?"

"Yup, they'll be out cold until next morning." Wheeljack said gleefully. Enlisting Wheeljack's help had many advantages. Now they knew that their victims would not wake up and catch them in the act.

Seeing the bots walk over, Sarah waved. They loaded the paint into the bot's interior as quickly and as quietly as possible. Then they climbed in and went over to the barn. The barn doors were opened to allow as much light in as possible and then the pranksters began their work. Annie and Sarah would repaint Ironhide, Will and Wheeljack would get Ratchet and Jazz was very much looking forward to repainting Prowl with Ash.

"I want to make Ironhide into an ice-cream truck with Princesses!" Annie insisted. Jazz held his laughter in. Ironhide as an ice-cream with Princesses? Fragging priceless! He turned to Ash.

"Wha' shall we make Prowler into?"

"Ballerina!" She said and Jazz had to fight to hold the laughter in even more. Among the paints, there were other art supplies, pink feathers and superglue being some of them. If Jazz stuck the feathers onto Prowl in a certain way, then when he transformed he would look like a ballerina! Luckily, Jazz was okay with Cybertronian anatomy and knew roughly where to stick the feathers. Ash meanwhile, was enjoying painting Prowl an extremely glittery pink colour. Although she didn't like pink particularly, Jass had promised she could finger paint in blue and silver after and he said that Prowl liked pink and since she was a good girl, she would paint him his favourite colour!

Annie was enjoying putting princesses onto Ironhide, whilst Sarah was repainting Ironhide's windows to look like an ice-cream display. Wheeljack ….. that mech was up to something in Jazz's opinion. He watched as Wheeljack attached a device to Ratchet, but he didn't question it. He didn't even question when Will started superglueing some old spare straw to Ratchet either. He just let them get on with it.

When their work was done, the pranksters slipped off to bed, with cameras at the ready for the next morning. Jazz and Wheeljack recharged in their alt modes behind the house that night, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway!

The next morning, Prowl's POV

Prowl opened his optics sleepily. He had obviously been in quite deep recharge last night, for some reason. Maybe it was the 'country air' as humans called it. He transformed into bipedal mode and stretched, then reached out along the brother bond for Jazz. He was surprised to find Jazz and Wheeljack were not in the barn and that Jazz had shut his end of the bond off, but he guessed the mech was probably busy with ranch work. Unsuspecting, he then turned to look at Ratchet and Ironhide. Prowl froze.

Ironhide was _pink. _Bright, sparkly, fluorescent, Primus damned _pink. _He appeared to be painted as what was known as an 'ice-cream' truck. Ratchet was painted in a multitude of seemingly random colours, and was that _straw _superglued to him?! The mech's processor was blown, and he could feel a glitch coming on. However, this was not illogical. It was obvious that Jazz had done this is the night, as had Wheeljack and judging by the way Ironhide looked, the sparklings had been in on the prank as well.

**: Jazz : **He growled down the brother bond. **: When I find you, I will weld you to the shooting range wall and let Ironhide use your sorry aft for target practice. : **He looked down at himself. He didn't seem to be painted as any particular thing, but he was fragging pink as well. It was a horrible sparkly one as well, with patterns of blue and silver. He growled. He hated that pit damned colour and he didn't particularly like his slagging mischevious brother either at the moment.

He groaned, realising that he would have to online Ratchet and Ironhide and enlighten them of their current _predicament. _The mechs would not be happy, put bluntly. When angered, they took it out on the nearest mech, which would be Prowl himself and they would be very slagged off to say the least. He sighed as he went to awake them.

Back at the Farmhouse.

: **Jazz, When I find you, I will weld you to the shooting range and let Ironhide use your sorry aft for target practice. : **

Jazz visibly shuddered in his seat at the table and everyone looked at him.

"Prowl notice?" Wheeljack asked. "How mad is he?"

"He's gonna let Hide use ma aft for target practice after he welds me to the wall of the shooting range." Wheeljack and Will winced. They knew how powerful said canons were.

"Ouch. Good luck with that."

"Thanks a bunch Jackie." He stopped then looked around at them. "They're coming over an' they are not happeh. Jackie an' I will probably need to make ah quick getaway."

"Well, I suppose we should go see and document our fine handiwork." Will said whilst rubbing his hands together in a somewhat evil manner. "What do you say offsprings of mine?"

"Yeah Dadda!"

"I need to finish breakfast first!" Annie gobbled down the last of her cereal and jumped down. "All done, c'mon everyone!" Everyone went outside, unsure of what they would see. The sight that met them put even the terror twin's art skills and pranks to shame.

The makeshift 'tutu' and 'Tiara' of feathers had worked beautifully on Prowl, causing him to look exactly like a Cybertronian ballerina. Ironhide was also pink, with Princesses and Ice-cream pictures all over him. He looked like he'd just been on a playdate with a femme sparkling. But it was Ratchet that would take the prize. The medic had been painted to look like he was wearing a baby-blue dress, and the straw had arranged to look like human hair. The mech was obviously dressed as a femme.

"So, Jazz, Wheeljack, care to explain this?"

"That's art!" Annie exclaimed. "I wanted to make Hide pretty so I made him an ice-cream truck."

"I am a warrior, youngling, supposed to strike fear into the hearts of decepticons. That means I cannot look like an ….ice-cream truck or whatever this is." Ironhide replied. Jazz and Wheeljack meanwhile, were taking lots of image-captures and attempting not to fall over from laughing. The glare that Prowl sent Jazz would have made Megatron run away with his tail between his legs.

"Who made me a …. I believe this is a ballerina?"

"I did, but Jass said you liked Pink." Ashley replied. Jazz groaned. Way to 'throw him under the bus' as humans called it, or in this case a very angry Police car. He'd forgotten Ashley had a tendency to answer any question honestly.

"He did, did he?"

"Yeah!"

**: I'm going to offline you if Ratchet doesn't get there first. : **Jazz winced and prayed for Primus to be merciful and smite him now. Actually, Ratchet was being rather quiet. The mech usually was pain in the aft to shut up when it came to being pranked.

"Megatron got your tongue Ratchet?" Wheeljack asked a little bit too innocently.

"I think you know perfectly well what's 'got my tongue' Wheeljack!" Oh Primus! He sounded like a femme! The object Wheeljack had attached to him was a voice modifier! Sarah and Will were videotaping and Annie was laughing so hard she had given herself hiccups. Jazz and Wheeljack howled with laughter, still trying to take as many image captures as possible, it was similar to trying to operate a camera while drunk. Jazz commed Wheeljack.

**||Ah think we should get the slag outta here Jackie! ||**

Without waiting for Wheeljack's rely, Jazz switched off his holoform and drove down the back road leading from the farmhouse to the back entrance of the Ranch. He saw Ratchet appear with one of his famous wrenches, and dodged just as said wrench was thrown. Wheeljack, who was behind him was not so lucky and took a wrench to his back bumper. Jazz winced as he heard the wrench make contact. He knew that Ratchet and Ironhide would not chase them, as they were not as fast as Jazz and Wheeljack in their alt modes, but Prowl would and may even catch them.

Just in case he was offlined by Prowl, he quickly sent all of the image captures to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe via email, with the message "enjoy", knowing that the terror twins would definitely find a good use for them.

**Ratchet's POV**

Ratchet growled as he saw Jazz's and Wheeljack's holoforms disappear and heard the sound of engines behind the house. He unsubspaced a pair of wrenches, moved behind the house and threw them. The first one missed Jazz, but he grinned evilly as the second one collided with Wheeljack's bumper and a very loud "clang!" was heard. Although Jazz had not been hit with a wrench, the entire reason Ratchet was here was to give him a check-up and he was already looking forward to making the check-up as unpleasant for the silver 'bot as possible.

**A/N: I know the last part is a little random XD but I couldn't think of how to end the chapter without it sounding weird! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter **** The next chapter will be Jazz's check-up and I'm planning to include Annie and Ash more too. Please review and thank you again for reading! **

**-AnAshBlackSword**


	4. Doctors and Patients

**Thank you so much for all the positive feedback I've been getting on this story, it really means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I've put in a bot and sparkling game at the end for extra fluffiness **** Please review and thank you for reading! -AnAshBlackSword**

"Yeowch!" Jazz yelped as Ratchet smacked him with yet another of those slagging wrenches. "Ouch Ratch' man, that hurts! FRAG!" He cursed at Ratchet hit him again.

"No nicknames." The medic said sternly. "Sit still or else." Jazz stopped his squirming and sat still. He didn't particularly want to be whacked with another one of Ratchet's medical tools. They were doing Jazz's check-up in Wheeljack's "lab" which was another large barn that had been previously unused. The lab had tools, but wasn't particularly clean due to being an old barn and Ratchet kept looking around the place in a rather disgusted manner. The medic had cleaned himself of the paint and Prowl and Ironhide were still getting rid of theirs.

Jazz looked up as Wheeljack appeared at the barn door with Ash and Annie.

"Jass!" Ash squealed when she saw him. Wheeljack placed her on the ground and she ran over to hug his peds.

"Wheeljack! Why are you bringing the human sparklings in here?! Can you not see that I am busy?! Explain yourself!" At this Ash looked up at the scary medic and decided she didn't like him, not one bit. Only nasty people shouted and this bot shouted loudly. She sniffled and a few tears slid down her cheeks.

"Jass." She whimpered.

"I'm on babysitting duty! Will and Sarah told me to take them out so I did and I thought you'd be finished, you've been in here for a couple of hours now and it is my lab." Wheeljack almost growled at him. The medic's eyes flashed in warning, but before he could give Wheeljack a tongue-lashing, Ash burst into tears. Annie shot Ratchet a very evil look, almost identical to her Mother's.

"You're a meanie bot! You made my baby sister cry, and I'm going to tell Mommy and Hide so you can go sit on the naughty step." Annie pointed her finger at Ratchet accusingly from where she sat on Wheeljack's shoulder.

"Yeah, way to go Ratch!" Jazz said for good measure, trying not to laugh at the idea of the medic sitting on a bot-sized naughty step. He gently scooped up Ash in his hand. "Ssh Sweetspark, ol' Hatchet just gets grumpy sometimes, it ain't nothin' to fret over."

"Scary….meanie medic!" she mumbled into his hand, but she stopped crying. Ratchet looked a bit guilty when he saw the sparkling crying, he hadn't meant to scare her.

"I'm sorry young one, I'm just trying to make sure Jazz isn't sick." He explained to her, trying to use small words. Ash looked up at him from where she was curled up.

"Oh, mmkay."

"Wheeljack you can use that side of this scraphole you call a lab, but please keep the noise down." Wheeljack and Annie went over to the other side of the barn while Ratchet found the piece of equipment he was looking for. "Jazz, I'll need to perform a spark rate scan in detail now."

"Wuzzat?" Ash asked the medic curiously.

"Oh, it is like an ECG." Ratchet explained. Jazz and Wheeljack mentally facepalmed. There was no way a four year old child knew what an ECG was, and sure enough:

"Wuzzat?" Ash asked again, looking completely perplexed.

"Might wanna let meh explain this to her Ratchet." The medic gave him a curt nod. "Well sweetspark, Ratchet is gonna get some wires an' attach 'em to meh, an' then the other end of the wires goes back to Ratchet. The wires go to a clever computer, which allows Ratchet to see how fast mah heart beats and if the rhythm is funny." Ash nodded understandingly, but went back to playing with Jazz's fingers as they were far more interesting than adult things. She had found that if she angled a certain finger correctly, she could get the light to reflect off it and onto the barn wall. Ratchet proceeded to hook the wires up to Jazz and perform the Spark-scan. When he was done, he checked the results.

"All clear Jazz, I guess that concludes your scan for this year." Jazz stretched, glad he was able to move freely again, then yelped as he was hit with another wrench.

"Wha' was that for?!" he asked indignantly.

"For making me into a femme, and that…" he hit him again and Jazz swore "was for good measure." He grinned evilly and subspaced the wrench.

"It's not nice to hit." Annie told him from where she was playing with Wheeljack. "You're a naughty bot."

"Who's a naughty bot?" Ironhide asked as he poked his head in the door. He and Prowl had just finished removing the last of the pink paint from their alt modes and they had assumed they would find the others here.

"Hide! Ratchet is a bad bot, he made Ash cry and he was a meanie and then he hit Jazz and he is a bad bot and needs to be told off!" Annie gabbled out at him. The mech narrowed his eyes at Ratchet. He assumed Ratchet hadn't made Ash that upset, as Jazz would have offlined him within microseconds, but that didn't mean he had to be happy with Ratchet. Prowl smiled as Jazz sent him a suggestion over the brother bond. He was still annoyed with Jazz, but this was a good idea.

"I believe that is correct Annabelle, Ratchet does need suitable punishment for doing this. What would you suggest?" Ratchet gaped at Prowl is disbelief, surely the mech wouldn't do this to him? But, he saw the look on Prowl's face and decided the mech's evil sense of humor was making an appearance.

"When I'm naughty, Mommy makes me sit on the stairs." Annie replied. Prowl frowned as their were no Autobot sized steps around.

"And if there are no stairs?"

"I stand in the corner for 8 minutes, because that's how old I am!"

"I see. Ratchet, you will stand in that corner of the barn for…. 10 minutes." He didn't actually know how old the medic was, and they would probably be here for years if they did that.

"No. You can't make me." Was the rather grumpy reply.

"Actually I can. As SIC, I order you to stand in that corner, facing the wall for 10 minutes. If you don't then I believe I will get Ironhide to give you what humans call a 'smack' as further punishment." Ratchet growled. Of all the times for Prowl to pull rank, it had to be now. He knew that Prowl was true to his word, and he didn't particularly want to be smacked by Ironhide of all mechs, so he (rather reluctantly) went to stand in the corner.

Everyone chuckled at the poor medic's expense, knowing that they would probably pay for it later during a future check-up, but oh well. Some opportunities were too good to miss.

"Jass?"

"Yeah Ash?"

"I wanna play doctors."

"Okay, do ya want to be the doctor?"

"Yeah, but you have to be a doctor too and Prowlie and Hide are the patients." Prowl raised an eyebrow, but decided that 'doctors' probably wasn't too bad of a game to play. The sparkling could have chosen hide and seek! He and Ironhide sat down. Jazz gleefully reached for Ratchet's tools.

"If you even dare touch that, then I swear to Primus I'll kick your aft back to Cybertron slagger!" Ratchet growled from the corner.

"I believe that adds another 10 minutes Ratchet, and you must be silent when standing in the corner." The medic was furious by now, but he still turned around, fuming and plotting revenge. Jazz picked up a welder, and allowed Ash to inspect it before pretending to use it on Ironhide's arm where he had got hurt. Prowl was designated to have a leg wound.

"Would you like some med-cine Prowlie?"

"Um." He caught sight of Jazz and Ironhide giving him warning looks. "Yes, I would like some medicine please Doctor." She pointed to the medical energon in the kit and Jazz gave it to Prowl who pretended to drink it. She then asked Ironhide, who also got medicine.

"Thank-you Doctor that was very nice medicine." Ironhide said to her. She beamed at him.

"Bandages!" she told Jazz. He used the patching kit on Prowl and Ironhide. "All better?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you Doctor. I'm feeling much better now." Ironhide replied and gave Prowl a meaningful nudge.

"Thank you Doctor. Ratchet I believe your punishment is over. You may come out of the corner." The fuming medic stalked over, gathered up his tools and went out of the barn, still muttering angrily to himself.

"Jass? Mm' tired." She told him and yawned.

"Okay sweetspark, let's get you to bed then to take a nap." He drove off back to the house, hoping that Ratchet's revenge wouldn't be too bad.


	5. Swimming!

**A/N: Thank you so far to everyone who has read this story, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I've put in some Prowl and Ash bonding as well as Ash and Jazz. Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks again for reading! :D – AnAshBlackSword**

:: Text :: talking over bond, in this chapter, Jazz and Prowl.

Jazz was currently sitting at the table with the Lennox family while they were eating their lunch. Prowl had at first been rather confused by the human custom of eating meals together as cybertronians just refuelled whenever they needed too, and only refuelled together generally when drinking high-grade at a party. Jazz and Wheeljack had been explaining many human traditions to Ratchet and Prowl over the past two days. Prowl had joined them for lunch out of an interest to observe human customs. Ironhide was there to spend time with Annie, but Ratchet was still sulking after being made to look like an overgrown sparkling.

"Jass!" Ash had somehow gotten ketchup on the end of her nose and was now wiping it in an attempt to get it off, but was only making it worse by smearing it all over her face. Jazz chuckled and grabbed a nearby napkin.

"C'mere you." He quickly removed the offending sauce and Ash went back to happily eating her chips.

"Thank you Jass."

"Ya welcome Ash-bash." Sarah Lennox looked across at Will.

"I was thinking, if the 'bots are okay with this then maybe we could go swimming this afternoon?" Will smiled at his wife.

"That's a great idea honey! What do you think girls?"

"Yeah Dadda!" Ash loved swimming. Annie wrinkled her nose.

"Only if the water isn't cold Daddy." She agreed.

"It won't be Annie, I promise." Will said to her.

"Ah'll take ya!" Jazz would not only take them, but he decided he would also go swimming too. Their had been no water on Cybertron and Jazz loved the fact that earth had water and that they had water sports as well. It was one of his many favourite things about the planet. "Are ya gonna come guys?" He said to the others.

"I've got to finish working on something Jazz, so I'm afraid I can't."

"I'll come." Ironhide said gruffly. This earned a "Yay! Hide!" from Annie. Prowl looked unsure.

"C'mon Prowler! It's fun!" Jazz told his brother.

"I am the SIC of the Autobots, Jazz."

"That doesn't mean ya can't have fun! Technically, ya are off-duty right now Prowler." Prowl sighed, seeing that Jazz would nag him until he gave in.

"Fine. I shall participate in this activity called swimming."

**Two hours later, the swimming pool, Ash's POV**

Ash squealed in delight as she ran out of the changing rooms and saw the pool water. Momma was being slow with Annie again because Annie was saying she didn't like swimming. Ash knew her sister was lying because swimming was fun! Everybody liked swimming. She then saw Jass and her Dadda come out of the men's changing room.

"Dadda! Jass!" She went over to them, and nearly slipped on the way.

"Careful Ash-bash." Jass told her as he caught her from falling.

"Mmkay Jass." She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him into the water. "Hurry!" She told him, annoyed that he couldn't move faster. Jass followed, as did her Dadda and Hide. Hide went over to Annie who was still being silly to try and help Momma. She jumped up and down in the water, before noticing that Prowl was not in the pool yet. She scowled at him for not getting in quicker and went over to him. Ash grabbed his hand and tried to pull him into the water.

"C'mon!"

**Prowl's POV **

Prowl stared at the tiny human attempting to pull him into the water. Logic was telling him that she was nowhere near strong enough to pull him in, so why was she trying? He decided he would go in to see if that made her stop, and sure enough it did. Jazz came over to where he and Ash were.

"Are ya being trouble again Ash?"

"No! Prowl wasn't in the pool so I pulled him in!" Prowl noticed that the water wasn't too uncomfortable, but he also looked up swimming strokes on the internet as some of the water was deeper than the height his holoform could stand in. "Piggy back from Prowl!" He also looked up "Piggy back" and as soon as he realised what it was, he looked at Jazz helplessly. There was no way he was allowing a small human to sit on his holoform's back! It was illogical and embarrassing.

"Alrigh' Ash." Prowl glared at his brother as Jazz lifted Ash onto his back.

"Yay!" She dug her heels into Prowl's sides. "Move then silly!" Ash told Prowl. He was annoyed at being ordered around by a human sparkling and was about to retort with the fact that he outranked her by quite a lot, but Jazz sent him a look. He sighed and decided to indulge the sparkling. He moved forward, deeper into the water. Ash squealed with delight. Then there was a message over the loudspeakers:

"The wave pool is now open." Prowl wondered what on earth a wave pool was and googled it. What he read on the internet horrified him, the human sparkling would almost definitely want to go into the wave pool, probably still on his back and…

"No! Scary!" Ashley suddenly started squirming on his back and Jazz came over to get her off in case she fell backwards into the deep water.

"Hey now, sweetspark, nobody said tha' ya had to go." Jazz calmed her down.

**::She doesn't like the wave pool. It scares her.:: **

**:: Oh. Isn't that a bit of an irrational fear to have? ::**

**:: Prowl, sparklings and children are irrational. That's why we look after them. :: **

"How 'bout we go on the slide instead Ash?" Jazz asked her. She brightened up considerably at this prospect.

"Mmkay, but only if Prowlie comes." 'Prowlie' considered either groaning, refusing or just legging it out of the pool and probably all the way back to the Autobot base, but for some reason, he followed Jazz and Ashley to the slide. His logic processor was giving him a severe headache about all the things that would probably go wrong on this slide. He could hit his holoform's head, or get stuck or fall over when he got out. Really, the possibilities for accident son this were endless.

When they got to the slide, Jazz took Ashley down the slide first as she was not allowed to go without an adult, apparently. Prowl heard the human squealing yet again as she went down the slide. Then, it was his turn. Getting into the slide, he felt Jazz order him over the bond.

**:: Lie down, it'll make ya go faster. :: **Prowl sighed and did as commanded. He was sprayed with water, and it got into the eyes of his holoform, but it was actually quite enjoyable, maybe even fun.

**Jazz's POV**

Jazz smiled as Prowl appeared at the bottom of the slide. His brother was smiling slightly, actually smiling, which meant that he was relaxing and enjoying himself. Ash ran over to Prowl and hugged his waist, nearly knocking him over.

"Missed you." She told Prowl. Prowl looked a bit confused.

"I was only gone for one minute and 49 seconds."

"Still missed Prowlie." She insisted. At this, another ghost of a smile appeared over Prowl's face and Jazz silently took an image capture, filing away the moment forever.


	6. Swimming Part 2

_A/N Hey guys, sorry it's been a ridiculously long wait for a new chapter on any of these stories – I've been having some personal issues, but I'm better now and ready to get uploading some much deserved chapters for you all! I hope you enjoy this first one, and there will be plenty more on the way – I've got a lot of stuff I want to write for this story and also for 'Comatose' and 'Teach me to Fly'_ _That being said, I've put it some Annie and 'Hide bonding and some really fluffy Prowl / Jazz/ Ash goodness throughout this chapter. As always, if you like this then please review and I hope you enjoy this chapter -AnAshBlackSword_

Annie absolutely hated water, she hated the way it felt and how she couldn't get dry for ages after and how it made her hair horrible. So, she was determined to make things as difficult as possible for her Mom to get her in the pool.

"C'mon Annie, it's going to be fun sweetie." Sarah said, trying to coax Annie into coming in the water, but to no avail.

"Don't wanna!" Annie replied grumpily, stamping her foot for good measure.

"Why honey?" "It's cold and nasty!" "I promise that it won't be cold." Sarah tried again, but Annie scowled even harder at her Mother.

"Shan't!" Annie replied rebelliously. Ironhide, who had been watching the stand-off, came over to Annie and Sarah and placed his hand on Sarah's shoulder.

"You go with Will and the others, I'll take care of this." He rumbled deeply and Sarah sent him a grateful smile. "Thanks 'Hide." She said, and went off to where her husband was by the side of the pool with Wheeljack, leaving Ironhide with Annie. He raised an eyebrow at her and she folded her arms and looked down, scuffing her toes against the floor.

"Do I get told off now?" She muttered, still staring down at the floor.

"No."

"But I was rude."

"Yes, and you are perfectly capable of apologising later. Now, you are going to tell me why you don't like coming in the water with everyone else."

"It's nasty! It gets everywhere."

"So do paints." He reasoned with her. "You still play with them, and you liked bubble baths. So what is really the matter?" He asked and she mumbled something under her breath. "Can you say that a bit louder?"

"It makes my eyes hurt." Was the rather grumpy reply and Ironhide smiled. The internet said that this condition had a simple solution: goggles, and he had seen some up at the customer desk earlier.

"Is that so? Well, I believe I have a solution for that dearspark." He told her, and she looked up at him, hopeful that her personal hero could help her.

"Really?"

"Indeed, now follow me." With that, he picked her up and commed Wheeljack where he was going in case either Will or Sarah asked.

**_Prowl's POV_**

After a few goes on the slide, Prowl, Jazz and Ash had gone back into the pool. Jazz was now helping Ash with her swimming, whilst Prowl watched on. The SIC would never admit this to anyone, but he actually found swimming quite enjoyable.

"Now sweetspark, ya got to angle ya finger like tha' and kick really hard for meh." Jazz told her, and she did so, causing water to splash and hit Prowl in his holoform's face. He blinked, surprised and before his logic could intervene, he splashed both Jazz and Ash. Jazz looked stunned momentarily and it was Ash who recovered first and launched another wave at him.

_:: Did ya realleh just do what I think ya did? :: _Jazz asked Prowl.

_:: Indeed I did, and it appears you are losing this game. ::_

_:: Like pit ah am! :: _With that said, Jazz ducked Prowl who came up spluttering and looking rather indignant.

"Jazz!"

"Prowl!" Jazz mimicked and Prowl glared at him, about to send another wave, when he saw Ironhide creep up behind his brother and wink at Prowl. Prowl whisked Ash out of the way and prevented himself from smirking as Ironhide leapt on Jazz, who had the smallest holoform of them all (like his actual form) and as a result went down instantly.

"Gotcha, pint-sized punk," said a smirking Ironhide as Jazz came up coughing and spluttering. Annie was watching with Sarah and Will, sporting a new pair of blue goggles (courtesy of Ironhide) and Prowl silently recorded the moment and saved it away for later use. You never knew when a use for blackmail might come up.

"Pint-sized punk?! I ain't pink sized!" Jazz grumbled, but Ironhide just laughed at him. Prowl looked down at Ash who was clinging to his holoform for dear life as Jazz and Ironhide began sending huge waves at each other. Annie, Will, Wheeljack and Sarah also came over to join in the splash-fight whilst Prowl moved out of the way with Ash, who was happy observing from a safe distance.

Suddenly, Wheeljack jumped on Prowl, and he lost his balance and his grip on Ash, who tumbled into the churned up water out of sight. Prowl came up, but Ash didn't and Prowl panicked instantly, which was felt by Jazz who stopped the water fight. Prowl looked around desperately, but couldn't see the small sparkling anywhere. After all, there were lots of families here, all with small sparklings that all looked the same to Prowl.

Then, there was a loud splash from behind him.

"Boo!" Ash yelled, and Prowl picked her up quickly and did a scan to make sure she hadn't inhaled too much water.

"Are you functioning well sparkling?" He asked, still unsatisfied. She giggled at him and patted his holoform's hair.

"You're funny Prowlie."

"I mean… um… are you hurt?"

"Nope!" She said, emphasizing the word by shaking her head rapidly from side to side. "Jass?" She questioned, looking around for him and holding her arms out when she saw him.

"I'm here sweetspark." Jazz said, and Prowl passed her over to him and she buried her head in his shoulder. Sarah came over to where they were and brushed a hand over her daughter's hair.

"I think it's time to go home now, somebody's getting tired." Ash yawned in reply to that and Jazz chuckled at here.

"Yeah, ah think it migh' be Sarah. C'mon you." He said, and carried Ash out, Prowl following behind.

**_Back at the ranch, Jazz's POV_**

After dinner, Jazz watched as Annie, Ironhide and Wheeljack were making a Jigsaw puzzle, Prowl next to him and Ash on his lap with Sarah, Will and Ratchet opposite him. The scene was similar to a few years before when he had decided to stay at the Lennox ranch, except Ash and Annie had been much smaller then.

"Do you regret it?" Prowl asked him softly, picking up on his train of thought. Jazz smiled and shook his head in reply.

"Neva', sometimes ah do miss bein' a saboteur an' all tha', but ah'm glad ah stayed here. It was worth it, ya know?" Prowl nodded, and shifted around a bit.

_:: Do you miss me? :: _ Prowl asked over the bond timidly, showing the vulnerable side of Prowl that few got to see. Jazz marvelled how his bond-brother was able to keep a perfectly straight face whilst asking.

_:: Of course ah do, yah silleh 'bot. ::_ Jazz replied, and cuffed Prowl on the head affectionately. Another ghost smile flitted across Prowl's face and Jazz grinned before snuggling closer.

_:: Jazz, I am not your Plushie. ::_ Was the exasperated yet amused thought that drifted over the bond.

_:: Shush-up Prowler, yah don't mind. :: _Prowl shook his head, but the silent agreement drifted over the bond and Jazz leaned on his brother, satisfied. Ash stirred in his arms and he brushed her hair out her face gently and rocked her slightly, humming something he had heard Sarah singing.

_:: Is that a sparkling song from Earth? :: _Prowl asked curiously.

_:: Yeah, the humans call it ah lullaby. This one's called 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Nice righ' ?::_

_:: It reminds me of the Sparkling songs we used to sing in Praxus. If you were near a Sparkling centre, you could hear them every afternoon naptime and every night singing the songs all together. It was …. Beautiful. :: _ Jazz said nothing, knowing that the memory of Praxus was one Prowl treasured. He wished he'd seen the city before it was destroyed, but he'd only made the brother bond with Prowl long after the destruction of Praxus and so he'd never seen it. The only thing he had were Prowl's memories. Prowl sent him one now, a memory where Prowl was on a tall building overlooking most of Praxus and you could hear the Sparkling song from the nearby centre.

Wordlessly, he thanked Prowl for the precious memory and filed it away as one to remember. Then, he changed his tune from Twinkle, Twinkle to the one Prowl had sent him. Prowl watched as Jazz hummed the verse, then spoke.

"Let me, I know the rest of the song and you do not have the right accent for the tune." Prowl said quietly. Jazz smiled and nodded, handing Ash to Prowl who hummed the rest of the song softly and Jazz agreed, it was much better when Prowl did it. When Prowl had finished the song, he began a new one and Jazz closed his eyes and allowed the melody to wash over him like a half-remembered dream until he too was deep in recharge.


	7. Hide and Seek!

**Living Room, Jazz's POV**

"I wanna play Hide and seek Jass!" Ash clamoured, grabbing onto his holoform's sleeve and tugging it.

"Alrigh' sweetspark. Do ya wanna play Prowler?" Jazz asked Prowl who was sitting on the sofa opposite discussing something with Ironhide, Ratchet and Wheeljack. Prowl sighed, looking from his brother to the excited sparkling before standing.

"Fine, but just this once. Clear?"

"Clear as crystar sir!" Jazz mocked, and Prowl shot him an annoyed look. Annie and Ironhide stood up as did Ratchet.

"I believe we will also take part in this game, although we will need a seeker. Ratchet?"

"What?" Ratchet looked around the room and sighed, seeing that he didn't really have much choice in the matter.

"Fine."

"Alrigh' then! We'll hide in groups, Annie wit' Hide an' Jackie and Prowl wit' me an' Ash! We can hide anywhere on the ranch, outbuildin's included an' Ratchet has to count to 100 before lookin'. Ready?" There were nods and murmurs of agreement from around the room. "Then go!" Jazz scooped up Ash and grabbed the hand of Prowl's holoform to lead them to his perfect hiding place where Ratchet would never find them.

Ratchet turned and faced the corner, beginning his counting whilst Ironhide, Wheeljack and Annie went out the back door and Jazz's team went out the front.

"So where is this hiding place then?" Prowl asked as Jazz led them towards the barn at a gentle jog.

"Wait an' see Prowler."

"My designation is Prowl you know."

"Ah know, but wha' would be the fun in usin' it?" He replied cheekily and Ash giggled at Prowl.

"Silly Prowlie!" She chorused and Prowl resisted the urge to glare at her, knowing it would only upset the tiny sparkling. Once they were in the barn, Jazz led them over to the straw piles in an empty horse stall.

"This will make sure he can't chea' by usin' his sensors to find us." Prowl looked over the straw piles. It was clean and unused, but there was no way in pit he was getting in there!

"No. That's ridiculously illogical and unhygienic." He told Jazz who raised an optic ridge at him.

"C'mon Prowler, it's ah game an' ya said ya would."

"I did not realise we would climbing through dirty straw."

"Well tough, we are gettin' in whether ya like it, or whether ya don'." Jazz declared before climbing into the straw with Ash. Prowl groaned and considered his options before reluctantly climbing into the straw after his brother. He made the place where he had entered less visible before sitting beside Jazz in the center of the mound.

"Now what?"

"An' now we wait."

**Wheeljack's POV**

"Hurry up and Wheeljack and get up here!" Ironhide growled from the rafters of the barn where he was clutching tightly to Annie who was having the time of her life practically hanging from the ceiling. Wheeljack groaned and followed up, repearting to himself that he really didn't like heights.

"This is a really bad idea, and it's just a game!"

"A game we are going to win, right Annie!"

"Absolutely 'Hide, cause we are the best at hiding!" The girl chirped and Wheeljack, as much as he cared about the sparklings, felt like gagging her. Sometimes, the way she hero worshipped Ironhide's every word really annoyed the scientist and this was one of those times.

"This is still a bad idea….."

"Get up!" Ironhide hissed, grabbing Wheeljack's holoform and pulling him up. "We are going to beat them and that's final." He told Wheeljack, who attempted not to fall off the beam from where he was hiding. He clung on for dear life, hoping that Ratchet was a good seeker.

**Ratchet's POV**

First he had searched the entire Lennox house from top to bottom, including the garage and the shed out the back. When his efforts had proved fruitless, he had moved on to the horse stables and then the pig sty and chicken coop. Then, he had checked the front barn and when he had found nothing in there he had finally moved on to the back barn, pretty much ready to give up and use his scanners.

Then he heard a scuffling noise from… above him? It could be a pigeon, but the mech was at his wit's end by this point and so he headed up the long ladders to the barn rafters. Groaning he hauled himself over a beam and looked around. He turned up his Audio receptors.

"Ssh Wheeljack! You can hold on until he leaves again!" Ironhide hissed and Ratchet grinned. His prey was within his grasp. Grinning quite evilly he swung balanced on it and walked across to the opposite side where he spotted Ironhide clutching Annie and a rather frightened and precariously balanced Wheeljack who was clinging on for dear life.

"Gotcha!" He crowed triumphantly.

"Did we win?!" Annie asked excitedly and Ratchet shook his head.

"I'm afraid not sparkling. I cannot find Jazz, Prowl and Ashley anywhere and I have searched the entirety of this ranch." Ironhide smirked.

"What's to say we can't use proximity scanners?"

"That's cheating!" Wheeljack said.

"Can it Jackie!" Ironhide growled as Ratchet pulled up the mech's holoform. Wheeljack glared and bolted for the ladder, ready to get back on solid ground. Ratchet had also pulled up his scanners, but although he could tell the rough location of the signal, he could not get an exact fix on it.

Weird.

He, Ironhide, Wheeljack and Annie went to the rough location, which was the front barn that Ratchet had searched earlier. Sighing, he began to search the entire barn again, Ironhide and Jackie helping him to do so.

"I've searched this entire fragging barn already! There's no way in pit they can be in here!" He said in frustration, throwing up his arms after 15 minutes of good searching. Ironhide sighed and looked around.

"Perhaps they scrambled their signals so we could not find them." He suggested and Ratchet shook his head.

"Prowl and Jazz could, but I can't even get a fix on the human sparkling!" He moaned, thoroughly fed up with the whole game by now. Then Annie pulled went to look in the straw.

**Jazz's POV**

Jazz chuckled with Prowl as Ratchet cursed and moaned. He had guessed the medic would get annoyed and use his scanners, so he had planned in advance and hidden in the straw. It was an excellent hiding place and to his satisfaction Ironhide's team had been found first so they were the better hiders.

Beside him, Prowl was pleased but somewhat bored of sitting in a haystack for almost an hour now. He had expected this to be a short game for Primus' sake and Jazz had turned it into a special ops mission! Just as he was about to walk out, Annie popped her head in.

"Found you!" She cried joyously and Ratchet made a noise of relief.

"About time too!"

"Tha's wha' ya get for cheatin' an' usin' ya scanners Hatchet." Jazz told the disgruntled medic, who picked up a nearby horseshoe and launched it at his holoform. Jazz dodged the missile, but it hit Prowl on his holoform's shoulder, causing an odd ripple effect and a look from Prowl.

"That felt…. Weird." Prowl muttered and Jazz nudged him.

"We won Prowler!"

"I am aware."

"Yay! We are the best and Jass is awesome!" Ash sang happily, hugging his holoform's legs and smiling. Jazz chuckled and patted her hair affectionately before turning to the others.

"Anyone wanna play again?"

"No Jazz!" Prowl groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. Sometimes, his brother really was an idiot.


End file.
